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San Francisco Giants win first game at AT&T Park in 2017

By Taylor Wirth

Mar 5, 2017; Scottsdale, AZ, USA; San Francisco Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford (35) looks on in the first inning against the Kansas City Royals during a spring training game at Scottsdale Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 5, 2017; Scottsdale, AZ, USA; San Francisco Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford (35) looks on in the first inning against the Kansas City Royals during a spring training game at Scottsdale Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports /
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The regular season is so close, we can almost taste the garlic fries. The San Francisco Giants played at AT&T Park for the first time this year, and it’s great to see the boys in orange and black at home by the bay. 

The San Francisco Giants sent Johnny Cueto to the hill against Sean Manaea to open up the series by the bay. Spring Training is coming to an end, and everyone is focused on opening day this sunday. The pitching matchups for this series include:

Fri: Cueto vs Manaea (7:15pm AT&T Park)

Saturday: Samardzija vs Cotton (7:15pm AT&T Park)

Sunday: Beede vs Triggs (12:05pm Oakland Coliseum)

Thursday night’s game started off slow as both offenses were quiet through six innings. The Giants scored all three of their runs in the bottom of the seventh. The inning started off with a Belt single (against the shift I might add), then moved to third on a Posey single. Mix in a couple more hits and a couple mis-plays by the A’s, and the Giants had themselves a 3-0 lead going into the eighth. Cueto went on to pitch five, shutout innings in the Giants 3-0 win against the A’s. As we impatiently wait for Sunday, the roster is pretty much set and the position battles are winding down. tonight’s game, which didn’t have much action, had some important take away’s:

  • Chris Marrero is almost certainly making the team. Marrero has been phenomenal this spring, and shined yet again tonight.
  • Ninth innings are going to be a cake-walk now. Mark Melancon closed out the game tonight, and looked as dominant as we all hoped he would.

    • The Giants sell out every game, including exhibition games against the A’s.

  • Eduardo Nunez looks healthy, and will be good to go for opening day.

    • With Parkers struggles, could we see a possible platoon with the surging Marrero? Giants insider with NBC Sports Bay Area, Alex Pavlovic, wrote

    this after talking with Bruce Bochy

    :

    "Bochy still would not name Marrero to the opening day roster after the game, but he did note that the stakes have been raised for that spot. The Giants will have a platoon in left after originally saying they wouldn’t. They never intended on platooning Jarrett Parker and Mac Williamson, but Parker will platoon with a right-handed bat, seemingly Marrero. Williamson will miss the start of the season with a strained quad."

    Will the Giants flip the offensive switch on opening day and come out of the gate strong? In years past, the team starts off on an offensive tear (flashback to last years opening day blowout against the Brewers).

    Next: 2017 NL West Preview

    We are two days away from meaningful Giants baseball, and the hype is building up. Giants will play one more at AT&T before heading to Oakland to finish up the series. Tune into KNBR and NBC Bay Area tomorrow at 7:15 as Samardzija takes the hill for the Giants.

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